[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 164 (Monday, December 13, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2117]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING DR. JAY SHERIDAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RAUL M. GRIJALVA

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 13, 2010

  Mr. GRIJALVA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a teacher from my 
district who recently retired. This teacher has given the past 40 years 
of his life to improve the quality of public education in his community 
of Yuma, Arizona.
  Dr. Jay Sheridan has been a teacher at Yuma High School in Yuma, 
Arizona for almost 40 years. He was born in Clinton, Iowa in 1943. His 
father was a B-26 pilot in the 8th Air Force in Europe, and Sheridan 
and his mother resided with her parents in the village of Thomson, 
Illinois in the months after his birth. In November 1948, Sheridan, his 
parents and his sister moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sheridan attended 
kindergarten in Greendale, Wisconsin, one of President Franklin 
Roosevelt's planned communities from the 1930s. He continued his 
elementary education at Valley View School, a small country school near 
Hales Corners, Wisconsin. Sheridan's family then moved to the Elm 
Grove, Wisconsin area in 1959, and Sheridan graduated from Brookfield 
Central High School in 1962. Sheridan then moved to the great State of 
Arizona to study at the University of Arizona, my alma mater. He 
graduated eight short semesters later with a degree in English and a 
minor in philosophy.
  After graduating, Sheridan went to law school at Valparaiso 
University. Shortly after entering law school Sheridan was drafted into 
the military in 1967. He honorably served our country in Vietnam from 
August of 1968 to July of 1969 in the 1st Battalion, 69th Armor (4th 
Infantry Division).
  After Sheridan was honorably discharged, he enrolled at Northern 
Arizona University to pursue a Master of Arts degree in English. He was 
awarded his degree in May of 1972 and accepted an offer as an English 
teacher at Yuma High School. In the summer of 1972, Sheridan met his 
wife Sally, a Yuma native. The two were married the following summer 
and have now been married 37 years. Sally, also a teacher, gave 
countless years to the Yuma community just as her husband did.
  Sheridan was appointed Chair of the English Department at Yuma High 
in 1973 and spent his entire professional career at Yuma High. He 
taught every level of English during the course of his teaching career. 
Beginning in the early 1980s, he began teaching the National Advanced 
Placement (AP) English Literature and Composition course and assisted 
hundreds of students in earning passing scores on the national exam.
  Sheridan completed his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of 
Arizona in August 1979 on the high school English department chair 
position in secondary schools west of the Mississippi River. He became 
chair of the Modern Languages department (in addition to the English 
department), with supervisory responsibilities over English as a Second 
Language, French, German and Spanish classes. At one time, in addition 
to his teaching duties, Sheridan had supervisory responsibilities over 
more than thirty teachers at Yuma High School. Sheridan also taught 
part-time for Northern Arizona University/Yuma for a number of years 
(advanced composition and English teaching methods).
  In 2001, Sheridan was awarded the honor of Yuma County High School 
Teacher of the Year by the Education Foundation of Yuma.
  Sheridan accomplished a great deal during his time at Yuma High 
School. His proudest achievement was helping Yuma High earn first place 
in the district on the state AIMS writing exam for 2006, 2007 and 2008. 
He also recalls with fondness the yearly student trips to the Old Globe 
Theater in San Diego, which he organized and supervised for more than a 
decade. Students read, analyzed, and discussed a Shakespeare play in 
August and September of each year, and then two busloads of Yuma High 
students would travel to San Diego to view the play they had studied. 
Students were able to engage in analytical conversations with the 
actors immediately following the performances. Sheridan again gave Yuma 
High students opportunities that many could otherwise not afford.
  Dr. Sheridan retired from Yuma High School in May of 2010. He remains 
in touch with a few hundred of his former students and he continues to 
encourage them in their college and professional endeavors. In almost 
40 years Sheridan has touched the lives of thousands of students who 
have passed through the halls of Yuma High School. He encouraged 
students who doubted they were ready for advanced placement classes to 
work hard and pass the test. He kindled students' love for literature 
and Shakespeare in one short year. He pushed students to their limits 
and encouraged higher education for all of them.
  Dr. Sheridan is a rare teacher that only comes around once in a 
lifetime. I am honored that he chose to give almost 40 years of his 
life to a public school in my district. He will be irreplaceable.
  Jay and Sally are looking forward to spending their retirement 
productively by traveling and writing. The couple has two grown 
children, Jill and Jay Jr. Jill is an RN in Grand Junction, Colorado. 
Jay Jr. recently received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Parks and 
Recreation Management from Northern Arizona University.

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